


First Time Fliers

by scrumptiousdefendorofaang



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Northern Air Temple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 23:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrumptiousdefendorofaang/pseuds/scrumptiousdefendorofaang
Summary: While at the Northern Air Temple meeting with the Mechanist Hakoda tries gliding for the first time.
Relationships: Aang & Hakoda (Avatar), Aang & Teo (Avatar)
Kudos: 4





	First Time Fliers

**Author's Note:**

> I think I might be getting better. Or more confident.

_Hakoda_

“What is the Avatar like?” Hakoda asks his son quietly. He thinks he must be something if his daughter has spent every one of her waking moments trying to heal him. 

“Aang is… free, I guess. I don’t know how to describe him,” Sokka answers.

“I think he must be like his people were. There is no other person like him, so he must have learned it from them,” the earthbender girl, Toph, chimes in. 

“Air is the element of freedom,” he whispers mostly to himself. The conversation drops leaving both of the kids with matching grief stricken faces. The love they hold for the Avatar was preserving in grief. They all know he might not live, if he had been anyone else lightning to the back would have killed him instantly. It might still kill him, it might kill his kids too. 

The metal creaks loudly when he opens the door to the Avatars room even as he tries to keep it quiet. The room feels damp and almost cold even though the red hues of the fire nation decor would suggest otherwise. His daughter is curled up next to the Avatar, who still hasn’t woken up or moved in the days since they got here. Her barely audible sniffing is the only indication she is awake.

“Katara,” he whispers. She only curls in on herself more. He doesn’t know what she is feeling but he can guess, he has been in her position before. When Kya died. He can only try to give her what he needed during that time. He sits on the floor facing her side of the bed.

“Do you want to talk or listen?” he asks her. 

“What would I talk about?” she asks in broken words. 

“Anything. I know I have missed out on a lot of adventures you could start there,” he prompts. But he will take anything his daughter decides to tell him, she hasn’t been doing that of late. 

“The first time I met him Aang asked me to go penguin sledding with him,” the faintest hint of a smile ghosted her face. “I hadn’t gone since I was a kid,” 

“You still are a kid,” he interrupts her, frowning. 

“That is what Aang said when I told him that when we were sledding,” 

“So you went penguin sledding when you found the Avatar?” he questions. 

“Yeah, and it was the first time in a long time that I felt like I could be a kid, like I could be free,” her voice goes quieter and quieter and she is trapped in her hopelessness once more. Aang, he realizes, has become a source of hope for his daughter. He doesn’t want to know what it will do to her if he never wakes up. He wishes desperately that he will wake up. If not for his children then he can thank him for bringing hope back into their lives in a way that had been missing for a long time. 

_Aang_

They were at the Northern Air Temple. Anger and grief still wormed its way into his heart at the sight of what had been done to this place no matter how hard he tried to make it go away. He had decided that no one could live here, or any of the temples, anymore. During the war it had been a different story, but now they were destroying what little was left of a destroyed culture. 

He has yet to inform the temple occupants of this decision. Which is why he is here now. And unless they wanted to dedicate their lives to the air nomad ways they were leaving. He expects they will not be happy with this decision. At least he has Teo’s support in this. As well as the Southern Water Tribe. His fingers trail on the crumbling wall next to him as he walks the Mechanists work space. He lets his avatar ‘face’ slide on as he enters the room. 

The Mechanists room was just as cluttered as the first time he had been here. Everyone was already here; the Mechanists, Teo, and Chief Hakoda. 

“Ah, Avatar Aang you are here. What is it that you wanted to say,” the Mechanists greets. 

“I need you to start dismantling some of what you built here. You are going to have to find somewhere else to live,” he says firmly. 

“I can’t say I didn’t expect this,” the Mechanists sighs, sitting down in his seat. “But I must plead with you to let us stay,” 

“I can’t let you stay, you have almost destroyed this temple,” he says just as firmly. 

“It was definitely in worse shape when we got here. We just improved upon what was already here. Made it livable for us,” he tried to persuade him. Teo looked about ready to chime in, but he was too slow. 

“My people had always allowed anyone who needed help into their temples,” the mechanists looked relieved for a second, “but even then anyone who chose to find safety here had to live by the way of the monks,” he continued, “I am right to assume that you wouldn’t be willing to do that,” 

“Yes but this is our home,” 

“No it’s not. This is a sacred temple of my people. I am only allowing people who will honor their memory live in the temples,” he would say he was sorry, but he wasn't. 

“Which is why I am staying,” Teo says. They had talked about this beforehand, Teo would be part in restoring the Northern Air Temple. 

“Can we put a pause in this meeting, I need to talk to my son,” the Mechanists said quietly. He glances at Chief Hakoda in confirmation. 

“Okay,” he grabs Teo’s hand briefly in support before he leaves, followed by Hakoda. 

“You handled that very well Aang,” Hakoda said once they were out of earshot. 

“You don’t think it is a mistake do you?” he asks.

“Do you think it is,” Hakoda asks back.

“No I don’t,” he means it as he stares at the pollution and pipelines making the temple almost unrecognizable. Hakoda must notice his stare at the broken murals. Aang stops in front of one, orange clothed people flying in the blue of a sky with sky bison and lemurs around them. This is how the temples are supposed to be. It is his fault they aren’t anymore. 

“Is this what the temples were like,” Hakoda asks from next to him. Beyond words Aang manages to nod. His vision is suddenly filled with dark blue cloth as Hakoda hugs him tightly. He hugs him back after a moment, relishing being protected. They stand there for a while, longer than Aang cares to admit, before he lets go. 

“Thank you,” he sniffles. 

“Do you want to talk or listen,” Hakoda asks.

“What would I talk about,” Hakoda smiles a little at him. 

“Well I have wondered about what it is like to fly,” an idea sparks in Aang's brain.

“Maybe you could find out. To the gliders!” Before Hakoda could respond he was already rushing away. 

\-- 

“Are you sure this is a good idea,” Hakoda asks, staring over the edge of the cliff.   
“Of course. I do it all the time you will be fine. It is safe enough for a child. I have been doing this since I could walk,” and he has only gotten hurt a few times. 

“What do I do,” he asks, still hesitant.

“You jump and trust the air will catch you,” 

“If it doesn’t,” 

“Then trust that _I_ will catch you,” he adds. Then he plummets off the edge of the cliff shrieking with joy. He snaps his glider open right before he hits the ground and swoops upward. Looking up he sees that Hakoda has followed him, panic on his face. He falls in line next to him. 

“How do you like flying,” he shouts over the wind. Hakoda shakes his head much to his amusement. “Want to land,” he shouts. He receives another nod. He flows with the air current upwards making sure Hakoda is following him. He touches down with an air of something that is well practiced. Hakoda barely avoids crashing somewhere behind him. 

“That was terrifying,” Hakoda says. 

“I guess,” he had never been afraid of being in the air, 

“You weren’t afraid,”

“No. You can’t be an airbender who is afraid of open air. It is like a waterbender afraid of swimming,” he laughs. 

“So no airbender had ever been afraid of flying,” 

“No, there probably were but it is always trained out before we even start airbending,” he explains. “Anyway the air feels like home to an airbender,” 

“How did they train a fear of falling out without having you bend,” 

“Sky bison would drop us,” he pauses just to freak him out, “another one would catch us then fly back up to drop us again and then it would repeat,” that was also a way they first trained with their sky bison companion. 

“That makes sense,” he shakes his head in disbelief. 

“Do you want to fly again,” 

“I think I will pass this time. I only went that time because I was worried you were going to get hurt, jumping off like that. Well it is getting late for these old bones,” Aang nods. “Go to sleep sometime soon Aang,” Hakoda calls over his shoulder as he leaves. 

“I make no promises,” he calls back before stepping back into the air.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos appreciated!


End file.
